Friday, October 02, 2015

Egypt to hold meeting on Renaissance Dam with Sudan and Ethiopia

Egypt has invited Sudanese and Ethiopian officials for a meeting in Cairo next week to discuss issues regarding Ethiopia's Renaissance Dam, according to an announcement by Minister of Water Sources and Irrigation Hossam Moghazi. The meeting, held by the Egyptian National Committee of the Grand Ethiopian Dam, will take place on 4 and 5 October, according to Moghazi. It will be attended by the Tripartite National Committee (TNC), as well as French and Dutch consultancy firms to discuss the points of difference between the countries over the dam, so as to start in the technical assessment of it.

In September, Dutch consultancy firm Deltares withdrew from the assessment of the dam. Deltares stated that it had withdrawn from the project as the conditions imposed by the TNC -- which includes representatives from Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia, as well as the French consultancy firm BRL -- did not provide sufficient guarantees for Deltares that an independent high-quality study could be carried out.

Since then, the future of the Renaissance Dam negotiations has remained unclear.

Egypt has repeatedly expressed concerns that its share of Nile water could be compromised by Ethiopia's dam project. ahram.org.eg2/10/15---Related:

EL Kaos UT

The UN has imposed a 2013 deadline for the submission of scientific claims to the Arctic seabed. It is the precursor to a resource boom which would see Canada, the US, Russia, Norway and Greenland all attempt to exploit the region's resources.